on our broadcast tonight, all eyes on chemical weapons in syria. the whole world is watching, we broke the story yesterday. and tonight a new warning from the u.s. and big news about american jobs and apple computers, and the exclusive interview with the man who now runs t company. and after years of just say no and millions of arrests, a new marijuana law makes histor and going home, smiling, our first look at kate as she leaves the hospital today, nightly news begins now. good evening, there has been swift and worldwide reaction to the story we brought you last night, the reporting of our

pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski, quoting intelligence sources indicating the syrian military has loaded the first stages, the so-called precursor chemicals, as chemical weapons that could be deployed as aerial bombs. and the fear is president assad of syria, facing long odds of power in syria or even staying alive, could use the chemical weapons against his own people s. from the defense secretary on down, the world be the world reacted to the news today ur chief foreign we begin with our chief foreign correspondent affairs, andrea mitchell. >> reporter: they warned today that the chemical threat is imminent, from a syrian regime that seems to be losing control. >> reporter: with the war turning against the syrian regime, fears rose of a nightmare scenario that once cornered the desperate bashar al-assad, may use chemical weapons against the world or against his own people. >> the whole world is watching, the whole world is watching very closely.

and the president of the united states has made very clear that there will be consequences. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence as first reported by nbc news indicates that syria's military has loaded the precursor bombs, even a tiny bomb can attack the nervous system, killing within seconds or minutes, most of syria's sophisticated weapons including the planes that would drop the chemicals weapons are from russia, syria's most powerful ally. but today, they were so alarmed about the chemical threat, they met with hillary clinton to talk about a possible future for syria without assad. >> we have been trying hard to work with russia to stop the bloodshed, and start a transition towards a post-assad future. but the russians insisted no

pictures could be taken show low them discussing assad critics want the administration to >> reporter: the u.s. critics want the administration to consider military options. >> we do know absolutely that these weapons have been readied for use by bashar al-assad's aircraft. again, i urge, we urge the president of the united states to make whatever military preparations are necessary. >> reporter: another military imperative, securing the weapons if assad loses control. >> it is absolutely important that terrorist groups not obtain possession of those weapons, and then try to use them against any other country or any other group within syria. >> reporter: there are military operations, but privately, the u.s. military officials concede that the pre-emptive strike could be risky and could even spread the deadly sarin gas, if he were to launch the weapons, an attack could be likely against him and his officials. >> andrea mitchell, thank you,

here we go in egypt, where the new president who replaced the old president, hosni mubarak, after he was deposed, tried to tamp down the situation, it apparently didn't work, the demonstrators set fire to his muslim brotherhood supporters, angry at what they called the power grab. this week, the fighting outside the palace in cairo left six dead, over several hundred injuries, and in an address tonight, morsy only slightly softened his position, claiming the move was only temporary. >> and back in this country, a new era started today after the decade of war on drugs drugs, almost a million marijuana-related arrests possession is now legal in e washington state. but the new marijuana law is now setting the stage for a new showdown involving the feds. we get the story from kristen dahlgren. >> reporter: at seattle

landmark, a celebration. as of midnight, washington state's new law makes it legal for adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. >> the first legal case. >> reporter: the new system is modelled on alcohol laws. it is still illegal to drive impaired or possess pot under twenty-one, they issued verbal warnings only. you're not allowed to smoke in public you can legally possess one ounce, use it in private. but stores will not be licensed to sell it for recreational use for a year, without a prescription there is still no sale. recreational users are going to say where am i going to buy this marijuana if it is illegal to sell marijuana still? >> reporter: federal law still prohibits the sale in any state. and the department of justice is reviewing possible action

>> the federal government may prosecute anyone who uses marijuana on federal land, marijuana on federal land, parks, courthouses, and could go after the large-scale growers who supply the marijuana. >> reporter: but attitudes towards pot may be changing, where just say no filling tv screens now shows pot as a suburban staple. in a new poll, americans favor it being legal, 51-44%. >> i think cigarettes and alcohol are a lot more dangerous. >> i personally don't do it or encourage my kids to do it. >> reporter: next month, colorado will make possession there legal, while at least five other states are expected to take up the matter soon. more debates just getting fired up as washington state tries to navigate the still hazy logistics of legalizing pot. kristen dahlgren, los angeles.

and now to d.c., on the fiscal cliff, 26 days to go before the deadline. president obama was back at it campaign-style. went to the home of one middle class family in virginia, saying if the middle class tax cuts expire when the deadline hits it will cost the family an equivalent of a month's rent. meanwhile, john boehner started the talks after a standoff that lasted almost a week. then there was the surprise that rocked the capital today. south carolina conservative, jim demint, a hero to many, is retiring next month. to go run the influential heritage foundation nbc's david gregory, the moderator of "meet the press," has more on the surprise announcement. >> reporter: about four years early, a lot of people thought it would happen by 2017, but not at this point. in his term, demint was somebody who turbo-charged the tea party movement. he told me he would like to see the party really adopt more of

these tea party ideas. that really didn't happen. there were more internal fights. he did have success in fielding candidates and also failed. he said they didn't do enough to establish what the party was for. he is going to try to be a force behind the party. now he feels like he can leave the senate, and champion the party >> and one more, senator coburn, from texas, somebody the president has a good relationship with opened the door toward raising taxes on the wealthy. any significance there? >> reporter: yes, i think a lot of things are misplaced. i talked to a lot of people. more and more conservatives like coburn said fold on the tax rates, let them go up so that we conservatives can get a better

deal and force the white house to do more entitlement cuts, specifically, medicare. a bigger deal that could satisfy conservatives, that would be good for the country and the debt, that is where you see a lot of momentum >> as we keep saying, if we're not careful, compromise may break out in washington, david gregory, "meet the press," as always, thank you. and as the u.s. prepares its final withdrawal from afghanistan after more than 11 years of war. the president, karzai, got attention today after very tough words for the united states. it came after our exclusive with our own atia abawi. he blamed much of the situation there on the u.s. aty tmore fro live. attia, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, the u.s. has been at war here for more than ten years, more than 2,000 american lives have been lost, and billions of dollars spent. so it might come as a surprise that the president of afghanistan, america's ally, told me that the u.s. is partly

to blame for the insecurity that continues here. but that was his unmistakable message today. >> for a number of years now, there is a growing perception in afghanistan that a significant part of the insecurity in afghanistan is caused by the way the united states and some of its allies promoted lawlessness in afghanistan. spreading corruption in afghanistan, by employing private security firms who became a law into their own hands, there were also contracts and contractors for all supplies, and all of the supplies, they were run over with corruption.

>> would you say that some of these would be intentional in the security, brought by nato and the united states? >> there is a very strong perception that some of that security is intentional, yes. >> reporter: i also asked president karzai what he would say to an american family who lost a loved one in this war. he said that the afghan people are grateful for the sacrifice but accused u.s. leaders of being more interested in american security than the sacrifice of the afghan people. and brian, i can tell you that u.s. diplomatic and military officials in kabul were not at all happy with what president karzai told us today. >> won't go over well in shington, either, atia abawi, thank you filed a lawsuit againc universal for its lawyers for george zimmermac have filed a lawsuit against nbc universal for its coverage of the shooting death of trayvon martin in sanford, florida, back in february. the suit allegations intense infliction of emotional distress, they put out a statement saying we strongly disagree with the allegations in the complaint. there was no intent to portray

mr. zimmerman unfairly, and we intend to strongly defend our position in court him, we intend to defend o and still ahead, on apple, a big change coming to laptops, and the advice he got from steve jobs. plus, the most closely watched mother-to-be puts on a brave face as she heads home. most closely watched mother-to-be puts on a brave face as she heads home. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. this season, discover aleve. of washington about the future of medicare and social security. anncr: but you deserve straight talk about the options on the...

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so give unitedhealthcare a call today. consider a medicare advantage plan. it can combine doctor and hospital coverage with prescription drug coverage for as low as a zero dollar monthly premium. you only have until december 7th to enroll. call unitedhealthcare today. atia ab tonight, the man who seldom gives interviews, we are the first major television interviewer with tim cook since he became the head of apple following the death of steve jobs over a year ago. we visited two apple locations in new york, including their store high above grand central. we have a brief preview of the conversation today, running from ad campaign assault from samsung, to the amount of business they do in china, and why can't those jobs be here. why can't you be a made in america company?

>> you know, this iphone, as a matter of fact, the engine in here is made in america. and not only are the engines made in america, but engines are made in america that are exported. the glass on this phone is made in kentucky. so we have been working for years on doing more and more in the united states. next year, we will do one of our existing mac lines in the united states. >> let's say our constitution was a little different and barack obama called you in tomorrow and said get everybody out of china, and do whatever you have to do. make these, make everything you make in the united states, what would that do to the price of this device? >> honestly, it is not so much about price, it is about the skills, et cetera. over time, there are skills that are associated with manufacturing that have left the u.s. not necessarily people, but the education, the ability to produce them. >> that is sad, how do we get it back? >> well, it is a concerted effort to get it back, this

project i talked about where we do a mac next year, i think this is a really good other step for us. and the consumer electronics world was really never here. so it is not a matter of bringing it back, it is a matter of starting it here. >> while the announcement of a made in usa line of macs is welcome news, the new samsung ad campaign is not good news for apple. it is bold and damaging. >> hey, thanks. >> you guys have fun. >> home by midnight. >> the next big thing is already here, samsung galaxy s 3. >> the unmistakable message there, apple products are for your parents, samsung makes the really cool stuff. >> they came along and tried to paint the those with white ear bugs apple users as losers.

they're trying to paint their product as cool and yours as not cool. is this war? >> well, we love our customers and we'll fight to defend them with anyone. is it thermonuclear war? the fact is we love competition at apple. we want people to make it better. but we want people to invent their own stuff. >> he is talking about the legal stuff between apple and samsung, they have sued each other worldwide. over patent infringements sued worldwide. apple won apple won the last round when the jury ruled that samsung owed them a billion for stealing ideas. samsung was back in court just today appealing the judgment. sometimes the business of making pretty things is ugly. how tough is your business? how surprised would we civilians be at how rough it gets, spying, skullduggery? >> it is tough, very tough, you have people trying to hack into systems on a constant basis.

you have people trying to lift confidential information about future plans. all of these things are things that we constantly fight. >> how are you not steve jobs? >> in many ways, one of the things that he did for me that removed a huge burden that would have normally existed is he told me on a couple of occasions before he passed away, to never question what he would have done. never ask the question, what would steve do? to just do what is right. >> man who seldom talks about himself or his company, it is a fascinating conversation with tim cook, tonight, on rock center. and up next, news for young mothers everywhere to remember while having a rough time of it with the kids. .

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tonight in washington, the president and first lady were there with the obama daughters. they shared the honor of pushing the button and lighting the national christmas cone. it was supposed to be a treat, but we didn't think the lighting scheme looked like anything natural found in the forest. get ready for tide for men, it works the same as the regular tide but is being marketed towards male buyers. here is how they do that. they put a football player on the label, hoping men will buy it. even though a lot of us buy tide on our own without assistance, they figure that saints quarterback drew brees will help to sell the new victory with fresh scent, even though the smell of a jersey would knock a bird off a telephone pole at 500 yards. and a huge study about 1200 couples determined that becoming a parent greatly reduces the risk of having a premature

death. more to the point, the rate of death for childless women was four times higher than women who had given birth in life. having adopted children also lowers the death rate. and a lot of talk on the web about a proposed new technology that would stare back at you and try to figure things out about you while you watch tv. verizon has filed for a patent for a dvd determined to find out if you're happy, sad, speaking with an accent, all designed to point custom advertisers at you like they do on the web. for example, if the camera picked up intense cuddling, it may prompt certain advertisements. it is just a patent, and verizon put out a statement, saying it values privacy. and up next, kate middleton leaves the hospital and answers a question the world has wondered. . statement, saying it

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happy grandfather-to-be. >> reporter: leaving the hospital this morning with prince william, kate managed a big smile, looking pale and tired, she answered questions the media wanted to know. how are you? much better, thank you, she said, then off to some welcome privacy. so now kate can rest in the comfort of the palace. she may well experience this sickness again during this royal pregnancy, but now she is likely to have the medication to control it. her condition has drawn concern along with a sort of global royal baby fever. grandfather-to-be, prince charles today, was very happy. >> what is your reaction to the news about the prince and duchess? >> how do you know i'm not a radio station? >> i am thrilled, very nice to be a grandfather at my age. >> reporter: that radio station

he joked about is australian. where two djs called her hospital this week. >> hello, i'm just after my granddaughter this week. >> reporter: a prank call, featuring a very bad imitation of the prince and the queen. >> oh, nothing like the palace, is it, charles? and when are you going to walk those corgys? those djs apologized. >> we were expecting to be hung up on, we didn't even know what to say now, the duchess can res out of the p for now, the duchess can rest out of the public eye and away from the phone, during what will be the most watched pregnancy on the planet. >> that is our broadcast on a thursday night, thank you for joining us, don't forget, rock center tonight, 10:00, 9:00 central time. i'm brian williams, of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. night, thank you for joining us, don't forget, rock center tonight, 10:00, 9:00 central time. i'm brian williams, of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.